


A Pocket Full of Posies

by atthestars



Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Brainwashing, Discussion of Abortion, Dubious Consent, F/M, Memory Loss, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-03-09 22:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 13,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18926131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atthestars/pseuds/atthestars
Summary: Set more than six months and less than a year after the events of 1x22. Just as Macy and Harry are both finally ready to start moving forward beyond Galvin and Charity, a hurdle comes in the form of Hunter, who has bided his time and come up with a plan to avenge his father and to ensure his familial/demonic line continues, with Macy as the chosen vessel to bear his offspring. After all, she is part-demon and was once the Source.





	1. Prologue: As It Starts

**Author's Note:**

> Hacy owns my heart. Macy/Hunter is a guilty crack ship pairing of mine. There's actually a good chance that this will have a lot of Macy/Hunter vibes to it and I don't know for certain how this fic will end. I'm still working on trying to get my handle on these characters and to write them properly.
> 
> Disclaimer: BTW I don't own any of the characters, the basic plot, blah blah blah. Playing in their sandbox. Only profit comes in the forms of kudos and feedback/comments, nothing monetary.

Sparks and screams, her name, _Macy_ , being yelled, the sound almost torn from another’s throat, as if she was being ripped away from them, caused her to wake with a start, gasping, her eyelids fluttering open.

“That’s it, rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” came a familiar voice, sweet and thick like molasses.

The witch blinked, her vision slowly coming into focus, her brow furrowing as she frowned at the unfamiliar surroundings. Her bottom lip jutted out as she propped herself up on her elbows, taking a look around. “Where am I?”

He grinded his teeth, hoping to hide his joy in the moment, knowing that he’d done something right, all on his own. After a beat, Hunter dropped onto the mattress next to Macy and licked his lips before leaning closer, pushing her hair back. “What’s the last thing that you remember?”

Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. What did she remember? Her father was dead, she’d gotten her doctorate, she was applying for job in research labs at colleges around the country. But she didn’t remember him. Macy shook her head. “Not that it matters, but I don’t remember you, whoever you are.”

Internally, the demon beamed, practically glowed, at her words as he outwardly wore a somber face and took her left hand in his and lifted it for her to see the shimmering metal band adorning her ring finger, the one he’d placed there as he’d waited for her to waken. “I’m Hunter, Macy. Hunter Caine. And you’re my wife. Dr. Macy Caine.”

 

***********

“She was right here...she was...Mel?” Maggie couldn’t make sense of it. There had been a regular run of the mill demon interrupting their week, nothing that they couldn’t handle, and they’d vanquished it but then some weird light had surrounded Macy and she’d started to shimmer before disappearing.

Mel’s brows furrowed, her hands balling into fists. “Harry!”

“I’m right here, I haven’t gone anywhere.” He sighed. The Whitelighter could feel the ache of missing the eldest Charmed One in his own way. “As for Macy...I don’t know where she is, Maggie. I saw her here, just as you did, and, just as you did, I realized that something was wrong, and then she was gone.”

Mel shrugged her shoulders. “Okay then, well let’s figure it out and get her back. Between the two of you, you should be able to locate her. Get to it!”


	2. Chapter 1: Darkest Before the Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie, Mel, & Harry desperately try to find Macy. Macy's disappearance bears harder on Harry than either of her sisters know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still trying to get a good handle on/feel for the characters and I wish the entire 1st season was on Netflix already. I hope that neither Mel, Maggie, or Harry come across much OOC.

In the hours that had passed since Macy had disappeared in the middle of vanquishing a demon, her sisters and Harry had panicked, searched HIlltowne, then returned to the Vera-Vaughn home to try every locator spell that the Whitelighter could think of and that Mel and Maggie could find in the Book of Shadows.

Macy’s toothbrush, loose strands of her hair pulled from her comb, a pair of earrings, and even the most recently discarded and retrieved from the wastebasket face mask that she’d used during her latest bubble bath lay in various charred and burnt states in several small dishes, the remnants of failed spells.

Maggie huffed, a deep pout forming on her lips as Macy’s favorite mug smoldered. “Why isn’t any of this working?” She was terrified of what that could mean. They couldn’t have lost her, not when she’d only found them a short time ago. “I mean...she can’t be...what if she’s…. She should have called for you by now, right, Harry? If she was able to?”

“She’s not dead,” Mel said, shaking her head and hoping she sounded more certain than she felt. It wasn’t possible. No, part of her knew that Macy wasn’t gone. She wasn’t there, but she wasn’t gone either.

“Don’t even think it!” Harry added. “If the Power of Three was ever truly destroyed, if one of you were no longer with us, the other two would feel it, and there would be no question. Macy is still alive and she is out there somewhere. We will find her.”

“Ok, well that’s totes awesome then! Because I still feel Power of Three amazing,” Maggie offered with an optimistic smile that faltered after a couple seconds. “Aside from the being scared and wanted my other big sister because we can’t reach her and don’t know where she’s at.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but I wish the Elders were still around,” Mel scoffed. “The actual Elders. I’m sure they’d know how to find Macy.”

The youngest of the sisters piped up with a rather reasonable query that she wasn’t sure she had never thought to ask before that moment, “Hey, shouldn’t we have gained all their combined knowledge and wisdom and powers when we took over?”

Harry gave a chuckle. “No, unfortunately, that’s not quite how it works. First of all, you’d have to gain access to the heart of The Council Headquarters, but since all the previous Elders are long dead and not able to give you passage, well, unless Marisol left some sort of guide or instructions on how to access it, then I am afraid it’s highly unlikely.”

If possible, Maggie’s pout became even more pronounced before she perked up with a gasp. “Oh! What about Jada? She’s how you found out about the Akkadian Smokescreen and a bunch of other things. Maybe she and the S’Arcana had other spells or methods for tracking down your witchy loved ones!”

Mel wrinkled her face. It’s not that she wasn’t on good terms with her ex, it’s just that they didn’t talk often, and when they did, it was usually Mel picking her brain for something magic-related. Jada didn’t seem to mind being an additional resource for the sisters and was always happy to help, Mel just hated feeling like she was using her. After a second, she nodded her head as she reached for her phone. “I’ll text her.”

“Would either of you care for some tea? Or perhaps something stronger?” Harry asked. His answer was an echoed “yes” from both of the two sisters he hadn’t managed to lose track of. “Right. Perhaps I’ll combine both in a nice toddy and you girls can take a short break. It won’t do to wear yourselves out. Macy wouldn’t want it.” He hesitated for a moment before making his way out of the attic and down to the kitchen.

The three of them were quickly wearing themselves thin and the Whitelighter was well aware of it. He might not have been duty bound to them for the past several months but he had chosen to stay in their lives, forever grateful that they wanted him to remain and continued to welcome his intrusions into their lives and their home, and he still felt an overwhelming desire to protect all three sisters to the best of his abilities, to the point that he would give his restored immorality. He didn’t care for the thought that the search for Macy could take days, or worse, lengthen into weeks, God forbid, months. It was a thought he’d have to push aside; he would focus on bring her back, safe and sound, reuniting her with her sisters. Reuniting with her. That is, if she was still up to it. Their first date, tentative (and secret) as it was, had been planned for that night, before it had been interrupted before it even began with the havoc wreaking demon.

The kettle whistled, pulling Harry from his thoughts and he set about preparing toddies for himself, Mel, and Maggie, grabbing a fourth mug, out of habit, for Macy before setting it aside. The tray didn’t look right, with only the three mugs on it, as Harry carried it up the stairs. He briefly chastised himself for not making the fourth mug and bringing it along, in hopes that maybe, just maybe, Macy would return to join them before they finished their drinks.


	3. Chapter 2: Partly Cloudy Sunshine of the Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunter begins his attempts to replace Macy's memories and take up a significant hole in her life.

_“Your brotherly affection would be cute if it wasn’t so useless. And now, Parker is too soft for that. The prophecy’s clear: the Source will possess a demon born of a human. Aw, don’t be jealous. You get to be the fun one. And we will finally have all the power we need. All in the family.”_

 

His father’s words, words that he’d heard in the hours before he’d met Macy, before his brother and she with her sisters had sent him to Tartarus, rang in Hunter’s ears as he watched the staff he’d hired fuss about her, checking her vitals and spewing out the discussed and agreed upon details of her injuries. Most of them were various supernatural beings, part or full, that worked or had training in medical fields, that perhaps didn’t have the cleanest of slates, professionally, or who outright hated what the Elders and the Charmed Ones were known or believed to have stood for. A few took some convincing, a few some bribing, to go along with his charade. Glamours here and there, to give his so-called wife the impression that she truly was in a hospital and had been in a coma caused by brain swelling following an accident a few weeks prior.

 

Before then, he had spent months disguised and posing as a Hilltowne University graduate student, working as a lab assistant, in order to find out as much about Macy as possible. He had listened carefully to her conversations with others, engaged in a few with her himself. He asked questions during normal hours and then snuck around Macy’s office at night. Part of him wished he’d known of the power and darkness that was inside of her when he’d had her captive at Christmas. Everything could have gone much differently if he’d known that she too was a demon born of human. He could have just taken her to his father, they could have used her. Still they would have needed Fiona. But Macy had a power and darkness in her, that she was willing to tap into for what she believed was the greater good, that his little brother couldn’t imagine using. Macy...who still had the dagger in her. Hunter’s new prized possession.

 

Macy Vaughn….no, no, Macy _Caine_ , she reminded herself, the name seeming both odd and yet familiar, was only certain of empirical evidence and perhaps by her own experiences and memories. Even the latter two she occasionally questioned without science to back her experiences up. She needed and wanted answers. Hours had passed and she didn’t have any, aside from a medical explanation from a doctor about an accident, brain swelling, her being in a brief coma, that they’d known she would possibly wake with some temporary memory loss, not that they had expected more than a few spots in her memory, mostly short term. But she was missing well over a year of her life. She needed and wanted answers. She had to have them.

 

Hunter reached for the witch’s hand, knowing that she would withdraw and she did, curling her hand into a fist before offering a quick, soft apology, shaking her head.

 

Macy swallowed before raising her eyes to met the man who had told her her was her husband. “How did we meet?”

 

This was a story that Hunter had prepared carefully, constructed around a few truths. The best lies had roots in the truth. He gazed at her with all the charm and adoration he could muster, which was quite a bit, from all of his experiences impersonating others. “Well, my late father had made a generous donation to the lab where you work. He decided to make an appearance at the non-denominational winter holidays celebration that the lab was having and asked me to join him. As I was searching for the men’s room, you and I accidentally collided, you spilled your punch on my suit, apologized profusely and offered to pay for my dry cleaning. I refused to let you and then you realized that you didn’t recognize me and asked if I was new at the lab, you introduced yourself first and were a little taken aback when I told you my name. You again offered to pay for my dry cleaning, I suggested you buy my a drink, even if it was just coffee, instead, if you wanted to make it up to me.”

 

Macy’s brow furrowed, both in doubt and in confusion. “And did I?”

 

Hunter let out a short laugh. “No. No you did not. I gave you my card, told you to call me or text me, even e-mail me, but you didn’t. I waited until after the holidays then came by the lab and guilted you into grabbing a drink with me after you got off from work.”

 

That. _That_ she found extremely hard to believe. “You _guilted_ me into going out with you?”

 

There was the spitfire side of her he respected, that he could be attracted to, that he had enjoyed seeing and fighting back when they faced each other before. He shook his head, laughing again, “No, no, Macy. That’s...one of our things. It’s a joke, when we tell people our...our story.” He let the comments hang there for a moment before he began to grow somber, as if he was finally truly realizing of the full gravity of Macy’s memory loss and what it meant. Hunter cleared his throat and feigned being a little uncomfortable and unsure of himself, looking down and away then stuttering for a few moments before clearing his throat. She needed to believe that this entire was as foreign to him as it was to her, that it was something that they were both trying to come to terms with. “Which you don’t remember,” he added softly. “I’m sorry, Mace. I guess I thought...if I tried talking to you like nothing was wrong, maybe it would help. I should, uh, let you get some more rest. Would you like something to drink or eat? I could bring you some tea from the cafeteria.”

 

It took her a second to respond, both physically and verbally, shaking her head then using her voice, “No.” It hit her just before then. Macy had been so focused, so wrapped up in her own confusion, fear, and frustrations, that she hadn’t given much consideration at all to Hunter and what he must be going through, mentally and emotionally. “No, thank you. I think that I just need some rest,” she said offering him a small smile.

 

Hunter nodded, deviousness hidden behind his smile. “Of course. I know you’ll feel better once we get you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alistair's quote at the beginning was from the episode 1x09 "Jingle Hell"


	4. Chapter 3: Things That We Miss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days after Macy has gone missing, Mel and Harry get a little bit of hope regarding her welfare, yet neither of them are that hopeful. But they both miss her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I don't feel like I have the greatest grasp on the characters, especially not on Mel, so I apologize if they're ooc any.

“HARRY!”

 

He was kneeling, his hand hovering over the half-witch half-Whitelighter,once again, attempting to heal her. There had been something more fearful and frantic in Melanie’s voice this time and he’d found his charge’s former lover in a worse state than he had before in the previous days. She barely had a pulse but at least she wasn’t seizing or surrounded by a cloud of magic as she had been before. The magic glowed and hovered, flowing from the palms of his hands into Jada’s body. It was taking more and more effort on his part to heal her completely following her efforts to try to locate Macy or to at least breakthrough whatever magical barrier or circle had been placed around her.

 

Jada’s eyes opened as she began to wheeze and gasp, one hand clasping around Mel’s wrist, the other around Harry’s. Her grip tightened around both of their wrists as she sat up, her body rigid. “Stop and stay away. Whatever or whoever has your girl has no intentions of giving her up so easy. But she’s okay. She’s healthy. She’ll be returned once she’s served her purpose.” Her grip slackened and her eyes rolled back into her head, her skin electrifying before she lost consciousness again, her pulse and breathing returning to normal.

 

“Jada,” Mel cooed, placing a hand under the other’s head as she continued to hold the hand of her former lover before turning her attention to Harry. “Well?”

 

He was befuddled. All he had to go on were the words of a S’Arcana. And those words were vague and basic at best. “She’ll be all right. I’ve healed her the best I can. From her words, it sounds like Macy is and shall be as well.”

 

“As well? Harry?!” Mel carefully slid away from Jada, letting the other’s head rest upon a nearby pillow before scrambling up after the man. “She should be okay as well? How are you okay with that, Harry? Would you stop?!”

 

Harry turned around to face her, his jaws clenched. “I am not okay with it, Mel, but what choice do I have to be? What choice do any of us have to be? Macy is alive and well. At this point, it truly is the best that we can hope for. But we all still feel that she’s alive. Jada has done her best and it would serve us all well if we let her be. There’s nothing more she can do, not when it comes to trying to locate your sister.”

 

Mel tilted her head to the side as his words washed over her. Not just his words…. So many moments flooded her memories and senses, those that involved her older half-sister and their Whitelighter. Nothing magical about it, just pieces of memories falling into place, things making sense. Or a sense they should have or could make. Things about Harry and Macy that Mel had never seen. And maybe only now she wanted to see them. Perhaps it was something that had rubbed off on her from Maggie, from listening to her little sister ramble on about whether Macy and Galvin or Macy and Harry had the potential to be the cuter couple, before Macy and Galvin had happened and while Maggie was trying not have feelings for Parker

 

She scowled and stomped after him, “Harry!”

 

“Yes, Melanie?” Harry nearly spat as he twirled around on his heels. “How may I help you in any more than I already have? In some way that I have not offered in order to to help you find Macy? In some way that perhaps the S’Arcana knew but have not been able to tell us?”

 

He was irritated and frustrated in ways that he should not have been, that could not tell his charges, although he had no doubts that they would understand. Yet his frustration lie in the very fact that he didn’t feel it was his place to tell the younger Charmed Ones about his feelings for their missing older sister, or the fact that perhaps she felt something for him as well. That his hard to deny interest in her was something that they were both ready and willing to explore, that in recent weeks Macy had expressed an interest in him, that she hadn’t bothered to hide it when alone with him. She’d even been the one to suggest they go one a date of sorts. It had all been like a dream. The moments leading up to when they should have been out at dinner, prior to fighting a demon, had seemed almost as if a dream. Harry had felt as if he’d been floating on air, he’d helped them research the demon with ease and then...then Macy, in all her power, intelligence, and beauty, had been gone.

 

Mel didn’t need to have Maggie’s empath powers to know that there was more to Harry and Macy’s relationship than either ever spoke of or let on. It wasn’t any of her business. Whatever was, or wasn’t, going on between them they would work out on their own. Mel didn’t need to be involved in it. Not that she ever paid much, if any, attention to it. It had only been in the days since Macy had been ripped from them that she’d taken notice. She’d seen how Harry missed her. In his own quiet way. Similar and yet different from the way that Mel missed Macy. And she didn’t know how much longer she could be so strong when it came to missing Macy.

 

Her eyes blazed. “I will say this once: You will remember who you are talking to and your place. Macy is my sister and I don’t care what your feelings for her are, but you have no right to talk to me as anything other than that. She’s my sister. And I want her back. I want her back, Harry,” Mel cried.

 

Harry’s head bobbed, nodding and shaking before he moved to embrace the middle sister. “I know you do. And I’m sorry for how I spoke to you. I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you.”

 

Mel pulled back so that her eyes met his and she tilted her head. “Can’t you?”


	5. Chapter 4: What Dreams Are Made Of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunter doesn't entertain human emotions. But he acts as if he does for Macy. And he is in deep when it comes to his admiration for all that she is capable of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working A LOT of overtime at work, plus playing The Sims 4.

A month had passed since Hunter’s plans had started to come to fruition. It had been a little over a week since he’d brought Macy home from ‘the hospital.’ While she’d ‘slept’ (been drugged) of course. The witch had been just as standoffish in her new environment as she had been when she’d woken. Not that Hunter had expected anything less. But he played it up and played into it, doing his best to make her feel comfortable and at home, all of the magically and humanly photo-shopped pictures of them and so-called friends and family decorating the secluded house he’d set up for her, for them. For the icing on the cake, he’d placed Macy in the master bedroom, with her master bathroom. He wanted her to believe that he was doing all that he could to give and provide her with the space that she needed. He even had purchased and placed a mini-fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker in the room. Hunter brought Macy a cup of coffee in the morning and a cup of tea in the evening everyday, claiming it was something he always did and the witch bitch believed him. The tea was an easier means for him to keep her under his spell, literally and figuratively, that way.

Hunter had very few feelings for mortals, that included witches. Witches could easily be killed and what was the point of loving someone, something, that could die so easily. That could and would just leave you. There were times when the demon watched his unknowing captive that he...he didn’t feel for her but he...he could feel himself perhaps growing fond of her. Or fond of what he knew she was capable of being, of the power within her. Certainly not the salt of the earth Charmed One she’d been trying her best to be. No, the goddess who had taken on the source to save both his brother and one of her sisters, whose power she had used to vanquish, to destroy, his father. She was still somewhere inside of Macy and he wanted to bring her back to life, back to the surface.

He could wait. He was patient. After all, he’d waited almost a year for this.

Macy snored, softly, but it was something about Macy that Hunter had come to learn on his own. If he had cared, he’d have wondered if either of her sisters knew that about her. It gave him a thrill that he knew about her snoring. He doubted that anyone else alive knew. He could tell her that, if she ever asked. Her body tensed and she whimpered in her sleep, causing the demon to sit up. His nostrils flared and he rose, moving to her side. Macy’s eyelids snapped open, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her back arching up off the bed.

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no no.

Hunter ran out of the room before returning less than thirty seconds later, cursing, tossing a mixture of ashes around Macy’s bed, muttering one of the spells he’d learnt in the past month to keep her ‘safe’ and hidden. He continued, even as her noticed her body freeze, until he saw her settle completely. After a couple minutes, he let out a sigh of relief before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Macy’s eyes fluttered open, her brow wrinkled as her vision started to clear. A lazy smile formed on her lips at the still blurry sight of her husband. _Her husband_. The man who had been there for her whenever she had needed him and even when she hadn't. If she'd ever dreamt of a prince charming, it would have been him. “Hunter,” she breathed. “I’m so glad you’re here. I had a nightmare.”

The demon glanced down to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. He wasn’t. Macy had taken his hand in hers. He grinned.


	6. Chapter 5: Wishing Upon a Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie, Mel, and Harry find a reason to hope that they can find Macy and bring her home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maggie's magical encounter with Macy this chapter is related to the incident in the previous chapter.

The empath had spent several days reaching out on the internet, even venturing into the Dark web, for anything that might help them locate and save Macy. Of course, what she’d found were spells that weren’t proven and that she, as an Elder, should probably not have approved of, but she didn’t care. Macy was her sister and the Elders’ rules had sucked.

 

_ Macy was alive. And she was there, in the place that Maggie was now. Walking about, happy, glowing. “Macy!” _

 

_ Macy turned towards the sound of her voice, her brow furrowing slightly at the young woman several feet away from her. There was something familiar about her. Macy smiled at her before dizziness swirled her about and pain shot through her head and she screamed. _

 

A little while later, Maggie woke in a cold sweat on her bed, gasping for air. As she got her bearings, she was aware that she would be reprimanded but she didn’t care because she had made contact with Macy and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that her eldest sister was still alive.

 

“Macy’s alive!” A grin stretched across Maggie’s face, beads of sweat dotting her hairline, her skin paler than usual as she ran into the living room, where, more often than not, she could find Mel and Harry, if they weren’t in the kitchen or attic. They couldn’t have been in the attic because she’d just come from there. “Macy’s…” The younger Vera’s body began to convulse, her eyes rolling into the back of her head before her body started to crumble to the floor.

 

“Maggie!” Mel dove off of the sofa, catching her baby sister, cradling her head in her lap. She looked over at the Whitelighter, knelt beside her. “Harry?”

 

Harry held his hands over Maggie’s prone body, his hands glowing faintly as the air crackled.

 

Maggie sat up, her eyes completely white. “Leave us.” Flames and an unknown power source began to emanate from her entire body, propelling both Mel and Harry back, before she yelled, “LEAVE US!” The youngest Vera’s body flopped back down, limp, eyes closed.

 

The Whitelighter scrambled back over to her, checking her over, trying to revive her. After several unsuccessful attempts, he sat back on his heels, catching his breath, looking up at the middle Vera sister. “She’s okay. She’s going to be okay but...she’s recovering from being warded off. Magically, that is.”

 

“Harry, what the hell just happened?” Mel had scooted back over to her baby sister’s side.

 

He was still trying to process it all himself. “I do believe that Maggie has found a means to contact Macy, obviously. And it would seem that there is some power and/or being that has her in its clutches. But the most important thing to take from this is that there is a means to contact Macy. She is alive.”

 

Mel nodded her head before pressing a kiss to Maggie’s forehead. There was a steely look in her eyes as she met Harry’s. “It the magic this thing is using is this powerful, it seems like we need to start planning for a battle. We might need some help.”

 

Harry rose up. “Then let’s get started, shall we?”


	7. Chapter 6: Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Macy is well within Hunter's grasp. She's under his spell. It's all going his way. For now.

It had been days since Macy had woken from her nightmares, seen her husband seated next to her, and felt him there and as a part of her life. He was so much more than she'd thought she would have deserved. But he had always been there, practically worshiping her. That Hunter cared for her as much as he did had Macy blushing, she knew it, she could feel it, the heat in her cheeks, as she sat across from him. They’d been having proper meals with one another for almost a week now. She supposed that she was falling for him all over again. Which was optimal and made sense. And she was glad for it for him, for all the heartache she could see in his eyes as he patiently assisted her and gave her her space, literally, in their home. Macy had never been the most touchy-feely person but reaching for Hunter, moving closer to him, was starting to feel more natural. It was what she wanted.

“Sleep well, my love,” Hunter purred.

Macy was hesitant. “Could...would you stay with me? Tonight?” Her cheeks burned. “Just sleep? I...I know that we’re...and we’ve...but I..I don’t...I don’t remember and I...I--”

Hunter practically floated on air. His goals were coming closer. She was his. He had her. If not for her cursed sisters still being out there, he wouldn’t have to worry about anything else. But now, now he just needed to them to do more than share a bed together. It wouldn’t be long now.

The demon swallowed and moved closer to the witch, gently taking her hand in his. “Anything for you, Macy. Always. We’ll go as slow as you need. Take as much time as you need. It’s not why I married you. You mean so much more to me than that.”

She grew flushed, shaking her head, “So you keep saying.” She looked up, her eyes wide, “Oh! Not that I doubt what you’ve said, you’ve bee--”

Hunter had pressed his lips to Macy’s, one of his arms encircling her waist. Something had overtaken him and he fully expected to be shoved away. Instead, the witch sighed against his lips before leaning forward against him. 

“I love you,” Macy said softly. “I do. I don’t remember us or you but...I think....I feel...that I love you.” She stood up, licking her lips, and walked towards her room, pausing to look back at Hunter again. “If you can just hold me tonight?”

This was all that he wanted, short of her actually bearing his children, and more power. Then again, that’s what she was. The one who could give him all that he wanted. And he would do all he needed to play into the fantasies he fed to her.

“Of course, Macy. I’ll do anything you ask of me. I’ll hold you always. Forever.”

Macy shuddered, a smile settling on her lips, as she reached for Hunter, lacing her fingers with his before she pressed her lips to his. “Forever,” she whispered as she pulled him closer.


	8. Chapter 7: Slip Sliding Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunter and Macy have begun to live together as husband and wife when it's all torn apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda weird trying to write Hunter and Macy in a sort of domestic bliss together but this is what I came up with.

The weeks turned into months, and in the early morning hours, Macy giggling as Hunter tickled her sides. She could never have imagined feeling the way that she did with him. Her husband. There were times when her cheeks ached from smiling. The joy that she felt with him, even if she still didn’t remember their life together, or him at all, filled her with such light and jubilance, the kind she’d only thought possible to experience if she’d ever had the chance to meet and remember her mother.

In the most recent weeks they had spent many an intimate night together, with no protection used. Macy hadn’t asked and Hunter hadn’t offered, not once the witch had been willing and offered herself to the man she believed was her husband. Oh, the nights, and more, that they’d shared in pleasure...they were more than the demon could have hoped for. The Ultimate Charmed One, the Truest Source, had not only given in to him but she had brought him to such pleasures that he wasn’t sure she was capable she was aware of.

“I don’t understand how you fell in love with me,” Macy murmured, her cheeks still rosy and a playful smile on her lips.

Hunter’s eyes darkened. No, he didn’t have any genuine feelings for the witch bitch but his admiration for the goddess she could be…. It infuriated him that even after all this time they’d spent together that Macy thought so little of herself. “You have no idea what you’re capable of, do you? You are the strongest and most powerful being, not just woman, that I have ever known. And anyone who has ever made you feel anything less is not worthy of your time. You deserve to be loved and worshiped.” _Feared and revered._

Macy scoffed, shaking her head, eyes cast downward.

He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head so that she looked him in the eye. “You’re a powerful woman, Macy. Your power and strength are part of what drew me to you.”

The way he spoke to her, they way he looked at her when he did...this was why she’d fallen for him. Again. Why she had fallen for him again. Like she was a goddess, like he did worship her. She grinned at him, both of them lying on their sides, facing one another, naked beneath the sheets. Making love with Hunter had felt somewhat awkward early the first time but ever since it had felt natural.

Macy loved her husband and he loved her. She might not know much about the past couple years of her life but she had come to believe and feel these things.

There was a sparkle in Hunter’s eyes that he was completely unaware of as he slipped out of Macy’s bed, their bed, and pulled on his boxer shorts. “Pancakes or waffles?” he asked. Not that he was domestic but there was a routine he’d created for them since he’d brought her “home.”

“Pancakes!” Macy sat up, holding the bed sheets around her body and tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Pancakes and coffee coming up.” He could have fooled himself into believing that any of this was real, and sometimes he did buy into it. Like when it felt so real. Moments like this. That’s why he wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen.

Sparks bounced around the room, lightning striking every spot Hunter stepped towards.

“NO!”

Macy clutched the sheet around her tighter, fear in her eyes as she looked at the man she believed to be her husband. “Hunter!”

“Macy!”

Wind swirled and the sounds of voices chanting began to grow louder and louder. Hunter could see the magic spinning around, separating and keeping him from Macy, despite all the enchantments and charms he’d had in place.

Suddenly he knew, just before he’d felt the magical bonds clamping against his wrists. He had been betrayed.


	9. Chapter 8: Waking From Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry, Mel, and Maggie have finally brought Macy home. Physically at least. (And they've managed to trap Hunter.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still feel like I struggle with writing this as an ensemble piece for some of the parts, and considering all that the characters are going through, I feel even more uncertain. I'm hoping I'm keeping them as much as in character as possible. This chapter was particularly a struggle. I really hope it isn't terrible.

Macy screamed as her physical body shimmered, flickering between the place she’d been held by Hunter and the attic in the Vera-Vaughn house. It was as if her soul was being pulled in two separate directions and she wept, crying for both Hunter and her mother. Finally a shrill cry tore from her body as she solidified and laid unconscious before her sisters and Harry.

“Macy!” both Mel and Maggie cried, kneeling around her, Harry staggering to sit, him having taken on the full exhaustive powers of the younger Charmed Ones. He was grateful for the assistance from the fae and satyr communities, as well as that of other witches and warlocks, including the one who’d finally managed the courage to come forward and confess that Hunter had been behind Macy’s disappearance.

Their comrades were keeping watch around their captive, down in the Vortex Viribus beneath the house, their given powers of good enhanced as such over Hunter’s demonic powers.

Macy gasped as her eyes opened and she sat up, bewildered, searching frantically for the one person she knew that she should know. “Hunter?”

Mel’s eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. “That piece of sh--”

“Mel!” Maggie sat next to Macy, trying not to show how hurt she was when she reached for her eldest’s sister’s hand only for Macy to jerk her hand away. Maggie sucked in a breath. “Macy...we’ve missed you.”

Macy drew her body close and tight, shaking her head. She missed Hunter. She...no. No. This...this all felt familiar too. But how could it? She couldn’t stop shaking her head. “Who are you?”

There were tears in Maggie’s eyes as she kept her hand extended as she realized that Macy had no idea who any of them were. “We’re you’re family. We’re your sisters. I’m Maggie. You and I, we have the same parents. And, uh, Mel is our...she’s our half-sister. We all have the same mom. But...you’re the oldest and I’m the youngest.”

Mel was on the verge of tears herself, partially out of anger, mostly out of anger. She could rip Hunter to shreds. If only she could get her hands on him. She scrolled through the pictures on her phone, pictures she was suddenly grateful that Maggie had demanded they take when she settled on one of the trio. “Macy….” She held her phone out so that Macy could see the screen, a picture of the three of them, not long after they’d learned that they were the Charmed Ones.

Macy’s brow furrowed and she shook her head. “HUNTER! Hunt--” Her body went rigid and began to rise. She began to choke and gag, her body convulsing as the dark magic, in bits, was expelled from her body.

“Mac--”

No!” Harry moved in front of the well meaning witches. “No, this needs to be done. It’s almost like an exorcism. Macy needs to be freed from whatever power Hunter had over her.” Feeling Melanie and Maggie relax, Harry did as well, still needing to gather his strength.

Maggie frowned, brushing Macy’s hair back behind her ears after the elder had settled. “Will she remember us? Once she wakes up?”

The Whitelighter sighed. “In varying degrees, yes, she should. Given time, all of Macy’s memories will return. But we must be patient and...considerate. These months that she’s spent with Hunter, well, we can’t know what happened during them. We can only hope for the best and assume the worst--”

“I’m sorry, Harry, but assuming the worst? That he violated our sister? The best is that he didn’t. Either way, he needs to be vanquished.” Mel was pissed off and determined. Hunter had to pay.

“Melanie, we cannot just be rid of Hunter, as much as I wish that we could. We must be careful. We don’t know the bond that he may have forged with her. For Macy’s sake, we must be careful.” Harry placed one of his hands over one of Macy’s.

“Oh!” Maggie’s eyes opened wide at having placed her hand over Macy’s other hand. The touch, the contact, was different from combing her fingers through her oldest's sister's hair. This direct contact.... _Oh._ It wasn’t just Macy. There was someone else. Another life within Macy. Oh. _Oh._


	10. Chapter 9: The Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie struggles with the information she's discovered while Harry does his best to remind Mel that harming Hunter may not be in Macy's best interest at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've recently added the tag of "discussion of abortion" to the story after the last update with the revelation of Macy being pregnant because it will be a part of the story in a future chapter. I just wanted to go ahead and warn y'all ahead of time. I'm not saying one will or will not happen, but discussion will happen at some point and I will add a note at the beginning of any chapters that do as a warning.
> 
> Also, once again, thanks for all your lovely reviews and kudos! <3

Maggie scrambled for an explanation for her reaction when she noticed both Harry and Mel staring at her, questioningly, expectantly. It wasn’t her place to tell them what she’d just discovered...was it? She knew that Macy wouldn’t be pleased by the inadvertent invasion of privacy. Not in normal circumstances and this wasn’t exactly normal. But still..... And what if Macy didn’t know herself? Macy deserved time to come to terms with the news and to process what that meant, what Hunter had done to her.

The empath gave a fake short chuckle, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders. “Wow, like, Macy really fell for Hunter. Which is insane, right? I don’t know how but...he made her fall in love with him. I felt that...she fell in love with him.”

It wasn’t untrue; one of the things she knew for certain about her oldest sister was that she wouldn’t have had sex with someone if she didn’t have genuinely strong feelings for them.

“I know it’s wrong to want to torch anyone, but I really want to make that disgusting demonic prat suffer for what he’s done to Macy,” Mel seethed.

A corner of Harry’s mouth quirked up. “I’m sorry, Melanie, but did you just say ‘prat?’”

Mel rolled her eyes, her arms folded tight across her chest. If the circumstances were different, she’d be slightly playful, allowing Harry’s attempt at levity. But right now she was out for blood and destruction. Pain and punishment. Hunter’s. “Yes, you’ve rubbed off on me. I felt it was an appropriate term for the ragging and quite obviously misogynistic and sadistic demon asshole that has spent months torturing Macy and holding her captive.”

Neither noticed Maggie slipping from the attic, knowing that the other two would be two entangled in conversation about how serious they should or shouldn’t be. She knew both arguments but right now she didn’t care about either. She needed to be away from them in order to keep Macy’s secret. Wait…. She also needed to find out if Macy knew. And there was only one person who would know other than the witch in question, who was practically comatose while still enduring the expulsion of dark spells, charms, and magic from her body.

Maggie didn’t know if she should hope that it would also result in the expulsion of the secret living inside of Macy as well.

******

Even though the middle Vera-Vaughn sister had come to know the extent and depth of the Whitelighter’s feelings for Macy, the full realizations of the horrors that Macy might have been made to endure were hitting her. And while she knew that Harry was trying his best to not only be objective and but to detract from entertaining the thoughts that she was having, Mel’s main focus and concern were on Macy. Her fury was focused on Hunter Caine and making him pay for what he had done to their sister and them. She’d apologize to Harry later.

“Mel, I didn’t mean--”

“I know you didn’t, Harry.” His voice had been deeper, more apologetic than usual, his eyes losing a bit of the brightness they’d gained at Macy’s return. Mel sighed. “I just can’t find any lightness or humor. Nothing can or will make this better until Hunter has been destroyed. Vanquished beyond memory. I want this to be over as soon as possible. For all of our sakes’, not just Macy’s. Maybe selfishly, I want it more for mine than hers because of all this time, missing her. And now, knowing that he was behind it all, knowing what he’s been capable of, how evil he is...I both want to know and don’t want to know everything that he did to Macy.”

The Brit grew somber, inhaling deeply before exhaling slowly a moment later. He stepped closer to his unofficial charge. His voice was soft and a bit hesitant as he tried to not let his own feelings overtake him. “I am well aware, Melanie. As you are aware as to the extent of my feelings for Macy. The thought of any torment, any trauma, falling upon her tears me up inside. It’s taking all of my restraint to not at least to attempt to tear Hunter from limb to limb. But I do not know of any possible magical bonds that might exist between them, and I am not willing to risk causing any more or unnecessary harm to your sister. We may not want to but we have to consider these things until we’re certain.”

Mel’s eyes grew hard. “As soon as we’re certain, as soon as we know that there’s no connection between them that will harm Macy even a little bit, he’s done for. Hunter will wish that Macy had destroyed him like she did Alastair when she was the Source.”


	11. Chapter 10: Not So Wicked?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunter is like a rat trapped in a cage. But he can smell cheese.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite his actions, Hunter isn't meant to 100% be a villain in this, but he also isn't meant to be innocent. His actions are despicable, but in his mind, his actions are justifiable and are not evil. That does not excuse him but it should make things more grey than black or white when it comes to him.

Hunter struggled against his heavily enchanted bonds deep within the Vortex Viribus and cried out, a variety of goody goody magical beings keeping guard. He would destroy them all once he was free. And he would be free. He was stronger than his brother and he’d spent so long preparing, determined to avenge their father and to carry on the demonic family line, as well as to gain a little revenge against the Charmed Ones.

There were things that the demon hadn’t counted on. None of this. He hadn’t counted on being bested, not so soon at least. He’d planned on having a happy family with Macy, at least after their first child had been born. It would be best if they had at least had three children, and at least one daughter. That’s how the Power of Three flowed best, from mother to daughter. Any sons born of Hunter and Macy would have powers beyond that of any child of a demon and witch. A daughter though? Born of not just a Charmed One but the one who’d sacrificed herself to take on the Source, and in doing so had become the ultimate source of power, whether good or evil? Well, she could potentially be the most powerful being in existence.

And she would be his daughter. The pride he’d have for her. He’d make sure he knew exactly how proud he was of how. He’d encourage her, in ways that his father hadn’t. Beyond the havoc that could be wreaked. He’d teach her and make sure she was proud of her magical heritage, both sides. She would never feel ashamed of who or what she was.

The fates were not on his side at the moment, Hunter knew that, but he could only wish that one of the nights in the past couple of weeks that he’d spent sharing a bed with Macy had resulted in life. In the months that they’d spent together, he’d come to wish her no harm personally, and he’d grown as fond of her as he could. He respected and revered her and all that she was capable of. Having a family with the witch would have been more than just perfunctory. Being completely honest, Hunter had more than enjoyed a good deal of the time he’d spent with Macy. He could understand falling for her. Not that he was the type.

He didn’t want to lose her. He didn’t want to admit that he’d forged a bond with Macy yet he had. For a witch, half mortal, there was something else about her, that intrigued Hunter. Beautiful, feisty, and intelligent, she was all that a mortal man could want. But with her powers and abilities, she was so much more than a supernatural being could even wish for.

The air was disrupted, a shimmer of muted magic reverberating throughout the Vortex Viribus before the youngest Charmed One, the doe-eyed sweetheart of his erstwhile little brother, appeared. She strode with purpose towards the space where Hunter was confined, her eyes full of conflicting emotions.

A queer shiver ran through the demon as he sat up straight. “Is Parker okay?”

Maggie’s brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before she shook her head. “No. I mean, yes! As far as I know. Not as if you truly care.”

Hunter relaxed slightly before he tensed once again. “What about Macy?”

“What do you care?” Maggie scoffed.

He balled his hands into tight fists, gritting his teeth, before relaxing. “I don’t.”

Her brow furrowed again and she tilted her head to the side. “Just because I’m an empath doesn’t mean that I can only read people by touching them. You’re lying.”

“I only care about her in as much as it serving me.”

“That I believe.”

“Why are you here, Bambi?”

Maggie was silent for several seconds. “She doesn’t know yet, but we do. What you did to her. I guess I was just hoping that you being Parker’s half-brother meant that maybe you weren’t a complete monster.”

Hunter moved closer to the bars of the cage he knew were there. “What did I do to Macy? She loves me, you know? And how do you know? Unless….” A smile began to form on his lips. “Yes, the empath. You’d feel a new life, wouldn’t you?”

Maggie blinked, her eyes watering. “Yes, the new life you forced upon her,” she whispered.

The air shimmered again and Maggie disappeared, leaving Hunter and his captors to deal with his jubilance at the news that part of his plan had worked.


	12. Chapter 11: Sleep to Dream

Macy’s magically induced sleep was clearly a troubled one as her sisters and Harry checked in on her, waiting for whatever spells and potions Hunter had used on her to wear off. Waiting for her to remember who she was, who they were. Even Harry couldn’t tell Mel and Maggie how long it would be until the dark magic wore off enough that she’d awake and truly return to them.

None of them, except for Maggie, could have known what was going through Macy’s head, what she was dreaming, remembering, what her brain was trying to make sense of.

Her eyes moved behind her eyelids, scenes changing abruptly, a combination of actual memories and dreams, fantasies, nightmares, flashing so vividly before her. She could barely make sense of the images that kept repeating in her head. She mourned Gavin, she liked Harry, she loved Hunter. She loved her sisters. She hated Hunter. She was the Source. She wanted to destroy Charity. She needed and wanted her mother. She needed and wanted Gavin. She needed and wanted Harry. She needed and wanted Hunter. She needed and wanted her sisters. She needed and wanted...she needed and wanted...she needed...she wanted...she….

Macy woke, gasping, taking in a deep breath, her eyes opened wide as her hands clenched the sheets of her bed in her fists before she began to sit up.

“Macy?” Three voices called out.

She sucked in air, trying to catch her breath, as her vision swirled for several seconds before settling, the ringing in her ears muting. “Marisol? My baby?! Where’s my baby?!”

Mel shook her head. “Our mother. Marisol was our mother, Macy.”

Maggie knew. She’d only heard the heartbeat of the developing fetus growing inside of her eldest sister. She knew what Macy and no one else did. Marisol Vera had passed but Marisol Vaughn, Marisol Caine, whatever her name was going to be, was going to come into her own. Charmed and damned. Blessed.

“No, my baby, I remember her, she...she has her father’s eyes….” Torment and confusion washed over Macy’s face. “I...I was happy? With Hunter? I…. What happened? What happened to me? How long has it been? I remember us battling...I don’t even remember what or who but...something happened. Harry? Mel? Maggie?” Her eyes locked on her youngest sister. There was something about the younger’s demeanor, how she couldn’t quite make eye contact, anger and tears in her eyes. “Maggie?” Macy knew, she could feel it. “Maggie, Marisol, my Marisol...she’s real, isn’t she?”

Maggie opened her mouth then hesitated, looking at Mel and Harry, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, letting them both see the truth she’d hidden from them the day before. “Yes,” she admitted softly, finally meeting Macy’s gaze. “You’re pregnant, Macy.”

There was a moment of calm, of silence, of peace before Mel spoke. “I’m going to kill him. What he did was bad enough but this? I am going to make him suffer and I am going to ensure that he never hurts another woman, never hurts anyone, ever again.”

“Don’t! Please!” Macy sat up straighter, a hand flying to her still flat stomach. She swallowed. “He needs to be punished for what he’s done, but we must go about this logically. Humanely. Even if that’s not how he’s treated us. I need for us to go about this the right way.”

“He doesn’t deserve your kindness, Macy,” Mel said through gritted teeth.

Harry sighed, taking a seat next to Macy. “I do agree with Melanie, Hunter deserves the absolute worst, but for you, in the meantime, I will refrain. Tell us what you need. Tell us what you want.”

Macy smiled at the Whitelighter, lacing her fingers with his. She cared for him so much and yet...there was a part of her that had come to love Hunter, no matter how or why her feelings for the demon had developed. “I remember bits and pieces of my time with Hunter. I know it’s not what any of you want to hear, but I need to see him. I need to speak with him.”


	13. Chapter 12: Lines Inbetween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Macy's sisters and Harry just want to protect her and help her heal; they only have her best interests at heart. She's just as concerned about herself as she is for her unborn child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs: talk of abortion and sexual assault
> 
> Also, can I just say what a travesty it was that Lucy was NOT at Maggie's birthday party on the S2 premiere of Charmed? Hurt my Lucerita heart.

None of them were okay with the fact that Macy wanted to speak to Hunter, without them. They didn’t know if there were any lingering bits of magic he’d used on her in her system that would make her vulnerable to him. Maggie and Harry, especially Maggie, understood Macy’s need and desire to see Hunter, although Harry believed it had to do more with the fact that Macy was with child. Maggie knew that there was more to it than that.

Unless Macy seeing Hunter led to her using her demonic powers to completely obliterate him, preferably in a ball of fire, Mel was vehemently against her older sister coming face to face with that had kidnapped and tortured her. But Macy was determined, and Mel’s blood just boiled at the thought of the pain she had to be enduring, knowing what Hunter had done to her. From their previous dealing with the demon, she just knew that he would gloat and rub it in, making it all the more painful for her sister. If it was up to Mel, Macy would never go anywhere near Hunter again. If it was up to her, they would have already vanquished him.

“You should rest more, you still need to heal from the ordeal you’ve gone through, and not just from the charms and potions of the past months having been expelled from your body. You can confront Hunter later, when you’re feeling better,” Harry said softly, his fingers still entwined with Macy’s.

She gave him a gentle smile. Briefly squeezing his hand, the feelings she’d realized she’d had for him before whatever had happened where still there, and as comforting as they were, there was also an unease. Her memories of the past few months were dim and fuzzy, at best, but there was a part of her that felt... _something_ for Hunter that was not hatred or anger. Macy needed to understand it. She was certain that speaking to Hunter, or even just seeing him, would help her begin to unlock her memories of the experience.

Macy pushed herself a bit more, still sitting up on the sofa in the attic, and addressed Harry and her sisters, “I appreciate how concerned you all are about me right now, but I’m okay. I can handle a few minutes with Hunter. He can’t escape his confines in the Vortex Viribus and he’s being closely guarded. He won’t get to be and he won’t hurt me. I need to do this, and as soon as possible, so that maybe I can make sense of what happened. So that I can remember what happened.”

Even before Angela Wu’s traumatic ordeal, even before she’d begun dating Nico, with all the work their mother had done for victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault, Mel had learned how painful and almost debilitating not remembering it was for an assault victim to have even the smallest piece of the event missing. She knew _why_ Macy wanted to talk to Hunter, and if he’d been a mere mortal, only capable of the evil that humans could inflict, she’d feel...not comfortable but not entirely opposed to her sister seeking anything from the demon. He couldn’t be trusted and they had grievously underestimated him and his powers in the past. “Yeah, well, just make sure you tell him that you’re planning on getting rid of his Hellspawn. That’ll at least wipe the smug look off of his evil disgusting face.”

“What?” Macy and Maggie’s voices echoed, one of Macy’s hands swiftly moving protectively to rest on her stomach and her other hand slackened around Harry’s, a sting of disappointment shooting through the Whitelighter. “Mel… I have only just begun to process the fact that I am pregnant. I’m not going to rush into making a decision about whether or not I’m going to have my baby.”

Harry cleared his throat and stood. “I should leave you ladies. I’ll go prepare,” he paused, checking his watch, “I’l go prepare us some breakfast.” He didn’t need or want to be privy to the discussion, or argument, that was about to transpire between the sisters, and he had no place to offer his input, even if either asked him. Macy’s strength and determination in the face of adversity, anything really, was one of the reasons he admired her and had fallen in love with her.

“What is there to think about?” Mel said in a tone that was nearly a hiss moments after the Brit had left the attic. “Hunter... _raped_ you, Macy. And I get that the child is innocent in all this, but he is a full on demon, which means that between him and your demon blood--”

“I’m a scientist, Mel, I know what it means!” Macy yelled, knickknacks around the room hitting the floor. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “How I was raised,” she glanced at Maggie, “how Parker was raised, gives credence to nurture over nature. Just because we have darkness in us didn’t mean we’d automatically go evil. I hate what Hunter did to me, but like you said, my baby is innocent in all this. And I have faith that if we raise her the way that our mom raised the two of you and how my dad raised me, that part demon or not, she will be and choose good.”

“Plus she’s gonna name her Marisol,” Maggie offered softly, a lilt in her voice, hoping that that would help sway the middle Vera-Vaughn towards accepting Macy’s pregnancy and whatever she decided. “I know that nobody asked me, but it is a girl. One of those empath things, I totally wasn’t trying to pry or invade your privacy, Macy, you weren’t even conscious.”

“It’s okay, Maggie,” Macy said with a shake of her head, a small fleeting smile on her lips as she began to wonder what else her youngest sister may have felt or heard. She took a deep breath and turned her attention back to their other sister. “Mel?”

Mel huffed, folding her arms over her chest, her eyes damp at the sentimentality of Macy naming her daughter after their mother and that seemingly Macy had already bonded with her unborn child. “Fine. But only because she already has a name. As long as we destroy Hunter before she’s born. He doesn’t deserve to live after everything that he’s done that we know of, starting with him dragging Harry to Tartarus with him. I was never a fan of the Elders but the remaining ones didn’t deserve to be slaughtered by him. And you didn’t deserve what he did to you.”

Macy nodded her head. “I know, but it happened. Whatever happened happened. Now, I just want to find out exactly what did. On my own.” Her stomach grumbled. “After breakfast.”

After a moment. the trio chuckled, the first real laugh that the three could remember, the tension slightly beginning to ease.


	14. Chapter 13: Need To Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Macy is determined to speak with Hunter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I have appropriately tagged the necessary warnings for this fic, as well as placing pertinent warnings at the beginning of chapters. If you still read this story after having seen those, you don’t get to complain about them and the overall themes in the comments. I am NOT romanticizing Hunter kidnapping, brainwashing, and raping Macy. I am portraying the very real emotions and turmoil that victims and survivors of such abuse deal with in the aftermath, as they heal. Macy did fall in love with the version of Hunter that he presented to her as he held her true memories at bay. That’s something that she has to deal with and come to terms with, as well as her feelings for Harry. And Hunter, in his way, which is not healthy and most admittedly toxic, has come to care for Macy to an extent. This fic is 3rd person omniscient, so everyone's POV, no matter how right or wrong they are, are presented. So, please, if you do have any issues with this fic exploring and dealing with these themes, *stop fucking reading it*! No need to leave nasty messages in the comments section (they will be deleted).
> 
> By the way, for everyone who is enjoying this fic, thank that unnamed person for the delay in this update. It kinda killed my muse for a bit. It's funny that I'd had part of this written, which address what the reviewer took offense with.

Breakfast had been just like old times, before Macy had disappeared in the time that it had taken them all to blink. Harry’s cooking was delectable, as it always was, and he’d prepared her a cup of tea just the way she liked it. Maggie had offered her a piece of her vegan sausage, to which she’d wrinkled her nose, shaking her head, a laugh in her voice as she told her, “No thanks,” to which Mel had commented, “We’ve been over this: There’s no such thing as vegan sausage, it’s either sausage or sausage flavored vegan whatever it’s made out of.”

It was almost as if no time had passed as they sat around the table, they usual and comfortable banter offering a sense of ease, but lingering in the back of all of their minds was the fact that months had passed. Months that the memories of seemed to be just beyond Macy’s fingertips. She wasn’t terrified to know, to remember...she was terrified of what she could still feel. The purging might have dispelled most of the charms and potions that Hunter had used on her, and also taken many of her memories with her, but the feelings she developed for him had remained. And she didn’t know what to do with them or how to reconcile all of her true memories of Hunter, and what he had done to her, her sisters, and Harry.

Harry…. All of her feelings for him had come surging back. She could feel herself on the verge of falling in love with him, had known that she had been before, almost at the precipice, and it wouldn’t take much for her to topple over the edge. Except now...now she had these feelings for Hunter. And Macy needed to place them in a box and put them away. She needed for them to fade away, give way to the possible future with Harry that she had pictured before. Harry loved her, was in love with her, and she knew he’d support her and stay by her side if she did indeed go through with her pregnancy.

Was it ridiculous of her to also wonder if there was possibly another side of Hunter, deep down inside, buried under the power and hate that had been instilled in him by Alistair? Not that it would excuse any of what he’d done. But Macy hoped that it would make her feel better about the fact that, even brainwashed, that she’d somehow fallen for the demon who’d been so hellbent on destroying all of the good magic and protectors of it in the world. That he’d broken down and gotten past all of her boundaries, her logic, her defenses, and had made her feel for him. He had made her believe that they were married. There were so many questions that she had, so many things that she needed to know.

She could tell that the others were all dancing around, avoiding the subject of her seeing Hunter, speaking to him, as they began cleaning up. But Macy knew what she needed to do as she stole away from the dining room and kitchen. Macy needed to confront him. She needed to stand before Hunter, she needed to stand proud, in the power bestowed upon her as one of the Charmed Ones.

Macy glanced around as she stole away from her sisters and Harry. Content they the three were sufficiently pre-occupied for a few minutes, she took in a deep breath as she steeled herself, before she summoned forth and she stepped over the threshold of the Vortex Viribus.

The air crackled around Macy before it settled. She raised a hand towards the magical guards that had been tasked to ensure Hunter didn’t escape his enchanted cell. “It’s okay.”

The demon grinned, rising to his feet. “I knew they wouldn’t be able to keep us apart.”

She swallowed, feet planted firmly, a foot in front of the cell, hands balled into fists at her sides. “Did you? And how did you know that?”

Ah. That demeanor of hers. Yes, he’d known that her sisters and their Whiteligher would do their best to try to reverse all of his work. The eldest Charmed One may no longer be under his magical spell, but he knew that in the hours that had passed, no more than a couple days at most, that there was no way that the feelings that Macy had developed for him in their months together had dissipated. A lazy smile remained on his lips as he shrugged his shoulders. “Because I know you. You know that I know you. I got to know you better than either of your sisters or that glorified guardian angel have.”

Macy shook her head. “No. You might think you know me, but you don’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tried to make me your victim.”

Hunter snorted before giving her a smirk. “Victim? Victim? Really, Macy? You weren’t going to be my victim. You were going to be my queen. We were going to have and raise the most powerful, the most respected, the most feared children. Victim?” He chuckled. “No, your sisters were my victims. They lack your power. Your darkness. That dark delicious beauty within you. You were the Source. Even though you destroyed my father, it was with that power. You were who were sought. You were worthy of being worshipped. I was just hoping and trying to tap back into that side of you.”

She shuddered while he spoke, fighting back against the part of her, her demon side, that would preen at his words, as if they were compliments. She breathed, her jaw clenched, and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. She cocked her head to the side. “So, what? You were just going to keep me under magical charms and doped up on potions until you managed to tap into my darkside?”

“If that’s what it took, yes.”

“That’s absolutely appalling and despicable.”

A smirk formed again on Hunter’s lips. “And yet you still love me.”

Again, Macy shook her head. “No, I’m in love with a lie, some photoshopped image and story that you created. I could never fall in love with a monster like you. Not in reality. Not with all of my wits about me.”

“You keep telling yourself that. Pretend like your demon half doesn’t exist. Like it’s not calling out, trying to claw its way to the surface. She wants me, Macy. She always will. And I’ll be waiting for her.”

Macy began to feel sick. “That’s where you’re wrong.” She started to turn around before she paused, not meeting his eyes. “Did you...was there ever any time that you actually cared for me?”

“I didn’t wish you dead and I wouldn’t have died for you, but I would have protected you. You have so much potential in you, Macy.” Hunter stood at the edge of his confines, his voice soft, “I could help you tap into it, if you let me.”

Now, she glared at him. “But not for good. And if you truly knew me, you’d know that I only want to use the power and abilities afforded to me by my demon side for good.”

“For now.”

“Always.”

He looked smug and it irritated Macy. She let out a soft groan and strode away before using her powers to enter the house proper.


	15. Chapter 14: Where Is My Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts continue racing through Macy's brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank everyone who is genuinely enjoying this fic and to those of you who have commented to support and defend this fic as well!
> 
> For the nasty little troll who continues clicking on this story and commenting, I didn’t mention you by the name so you could have let this drop. As a registered member and fanfic publisher on this site, I reserve the right to delete any and all hateful and ignorant comments as I see fit. And again: NOT romanticizing rape. Macy is still processing all that happened to her, and trying to make sense of the feelings that she developed for Hunter under false pretenses. My tags are clear. No one told you to read this story. But you keep doing you. Also, I would like to thank you, Peanut Head, because while your comment on a prior chapter depressed me had my muse muddled for a while, your new comments have inspired me and set a fire under my muse, which is why I’ve gotten this chapter done and posted so quickly! So, sincerely, thank you for that!
> 
> Also, in case PEANUT HEAD missed this:  
> I had an aunt who was murdered by her physically abusive ex-husband, who raped her numerous times while they were married, one of my cousins being a result of marital rape. This is not a topic I take lightly. Macy doesn't want to think of herself as having been raped. And when she was brainwashed, she did fall in love with him. She doesn't want to think of what happened to her as rape. She doesn't want to believe that she fell in love with Hunter. She is in no way okay with what happened, but she doesn't want to believe she was victimized. Like her, so many victims in real life don't want to believe that what happened to them was rape.
> 
> Also, as rape survivor myself, who was raped by someone I was in love with: FUCK YOU. Writing this is part of my catharsis. Asshole. I have spent over 2.5 years coming to terms with what happened to me. I LOVED the man who did to me what he did. And I am still struggling with how I could love someone who would hurt me and how I continued to love him afterwards. Because I loved him more than I loved myself then.

Macy didn’t tell her sisters or Harry right away that she’d snuck down to see Hunter without warning any of them. She had just needed to speak to him alone, to try to figure out if anything she had experienced with him had been real. If that side of the demon had truly existed, if there was goodness in him.

Mel, for her part, was grateful that her elder sister had dropped the topic of seeing the monster they were keeping underneath the house. Maggie, ever the empath, was curious as to why Macy hadn’t brought up speaking to Parker’s half-brother since the night before. She remembered how driven absorbed she had been in reading the letters that their parents exchanged, searching for answers until she got them, no matter how painful they were. Deep down, Maggie knew that Macy wouldn’t let go of getting the truth out of Hunter until she was satisfied.

It wasn’t that Macy didn’t want to tell her sisters that she’d seen Hunter behind their backs, but she didn’t exactly want to tell them at the same time. She knew Mel well enough to know that the middle sister would be upset, and that after divulging what Hunter had said to her, that Mel would advocate even more for vanquishing him as soon as possible. Maggie, on the other hand, wouldn’t be as judgmental about it. Maggie had, and still did, believe in the goodness in Parker, and while she had been witness to numerous atrocities committed by his demon older half-brother, she was the most forgiving and willing to believe that people, beings, could change. She’d be more easier to convince that perhaps Hunter wasn’t entirely evil.

But after all that Hunter had said to Macy in the Vortex Viribus, she didn’t know if she wanted it to be true that he was irredeemable, wicked through and through, or that perhaps there was a part of him that was different, that he could change. For her unborn child. If she did have it.

_Marisol._

She’d been so sure the night before but now….

She really missed Galvin. Even when he’d only been her coworker and friend, and her crush, she had been able to talk to him about just about anything. He was more unbiased than her sisters could be. As was Harry.

Harry.

There was her heart fluttering, accompanied by a hollow feeling in her stomach. She knew that Harry would listen and support her, he would try to be as unbiased as possible, as much as she needed him to be. But she didn’t want to have to put all of this on him, not considering that they’d finally both acknowledged their burgeoning feelings for one another, although his were more than burgeoning, just before she’d been kidnapped. It was clear when he looked at her and held her hand, when he spoke to her, he still felt the same as he had that day after she’d become The Source and had heard just how complex and deeply he’d felt for her. In the weeks and months that had followed, try as she may, she couldn’t forget, despite their agreement. And perhaps there had also been a part of her when he’d first come into her life, particularly while Galvin was with Summer, that she had found the Brit rather charming and handsome, but considering the nature of their relationship, she couldn’t and wouldn’t think of Harry as more than a colleague and friend, her Whitelighter.

Then their world, the magical world, had been turned on its head completely. With both of them mourning, Harry for Charity, despite her betrayal, after all the years he’d spent caring for her, and Macy for Galvin, even though they’d barely known each other for a year, loves lost in death, it was pushed to the side as they, and Macy’s sisters as well as a handful of their magical brethren, tried to repair some of the chaos the magical world (of good) had been tossed into. The business and purpose had given them focus, not just them but Mel, upset at the loss of Nico and Jada for the safety of them both, and Maggie, sending wishes and thought of love to Parker, wherever he was, trying to get his demon side under control.

It had happened slowly and yet not unexpectedly, cups of coffee or tea being brought to the other without the slightest inclination that one was wanted or needed when it was. Slight blushes at sudden, brief, physical contact. Glances that lingered, hugs too. Brief hand squeezes. Secret smiles exchanged. And before Macy knew it, she realized that she was falling for Harry. Maybe a small part of her always had been but she’d already started developing feelings for Galvin before she met Harry.

Would Galvin still be alive if she’d met Harry first? Or if she hadn’t come between Galvin and Summer? She’ll never know the answer and wished she had initially acknowledged what Mama Roz had told her about the darkness she’d been born with. Then maybe none of this would have happened, Galvin would still be alive, Fiona would never have been freed, the Elders would still be alive….

_“None of this is your fault,” she heard Mel’s voice whispering. “You hear me? None of this is your fault. Mom would tell you the same thing, just as she told Angela Wu and, unfortunately, countless girls and women before her. You are not to blame. You are not a victim either. You are a survivor. You’re a survivor, Macy.”_

Macy woke with a start. She hadn’t realized that she’d fallen asleep. Her dreams, some nightmares, had been so incredibly vivid. She rubbed her eyes before blinking and checking the time on her watch. She’d only been out for a few hours. Detoxing from magical enchantments and potions was taking a toll on her. She needed a shower. And a snack. And to talk to Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, for those of you who are fans, I immensely appreciate your support and if Peanut Head, or any other trolls, take to spewing hate or ignorance regarding this fic in any future comments, even on yours, please do not engage with them, just ignore them. Don’t give them that attention, platform, or power. I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to trolls and this fic.


	16. Chapter 15: Talk To Me, Tell Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Macy goes to Harry for support. There are still many things left unsaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, y'all are the best! Everyone who has left a comment and/or kudos. And upcoming chapter, not sure which one, will delve more into Harry's thoughts and feelings regarding everything. And of course there will be Mel and Maggie's reactions/opinions, as well as more Hunter in the Vortex Viribus. I still don't know if Parker will be making an appearance.
> 
> ***SPOILERS FOR S2****  
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> Abigael most definitely doesn't exist in this since it's AU after the S1 finale. Also...no. They've taken Lucy, Jada, Niko, Hunter, Galvin, Julia, Alastor, Parker (yay), Charity (thank goodness), and Fiona from us and have given us Jordan (yes), Kat (yes), Darklighter!Harry (hell yes), and Abigael (but why/fuck no) as replacements?  
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The day passed into the next and Macy kept her meeting with Hunter a secret, not bringing up her previous desire to speak with him. She spent the time getting back to herself, remembering so much more of the days, weeks, months, she’d spent with him, as well as her life the two years prior to his magical amnesia and brainwashing. It was nearly overwhelming, the memories combined with her powers returning to her. Rest had been in her best interest. That and learning all that she had missed out on in Hilltowne and the rest of the world, such as how her sisters had dealt with her disappearance.

It had been an easy enough story for Mel and Maggie to spin and sell, that their older long-lost half-sister had left town to be with her father, who was terminally ill. Mel, Maggie, Harry, and Galvin had been the only ones that Macy had ever told that her father, Maggie’s father, had passed already. It wasn’t information she shared, so her sisters knew that they could use it to explain Macy’s sudden and prolonged absence. The story now would be that Macy’s father had died at least a few weeks prior and she’d spent the time trying to get his affairs in order, as well as needing to take time to mourn.

What story would she use to explain her pregnancy? Galvin had been gone for far too long for her to claim it was his. Could she play it off as a one night stand she’d had while she’d been mourning her father? She could not and would not ask or expect Harry to take responsibility. She didn’t want him to.

Macy sighed, a hand gently falling to rest on her abdomen as she stood outside of Harry’s office at the university. Despite her abrupt leave of absence, with the lab having been in such turmoil following the unexplained deaths of numerous workers as well as those of Drs. Julia Wagner and Galvin Burdette. She would be demoted, at the very least, but ultimately welcomed back for all the work that she’d done the previous year, not to mention it was known and recognized how closely she’d worked with the other two PhD’s. Wouldn’t she? Oh, she hoped so. Again, she was mentally deflecting. Letting out a deep breath, she slowly raised a hand and then knocked.

After several seconds, the door opened to reveal Harry with a neutrally pleasant look on his face before a genuine grin formed as he saw who it was at his door. “Macy! What a surprise! Do come in! Are you doing well? I wasn’t expecting a visit from you and surely if you’d needed it me you would have simply called for me.”

Her flimsy as it was confidence wavered as her smile faltered and her heart skipped a beat. There was no...existing being that she felt truly close to as Harry, since he wasn’t actually alive. Macy cleared her throat as she entered his office, him closing the door behind her, “I, uh...sorry to intrude, I just...I need to talk to you about...I…” She stumbled over her words and hesitated. She shook her head as she began wringing her hands before blurting out, “I went to see Hunter a few days ago.”

She half expected to see disappointment on his face but instead, Harry just looked surprised before his features morphed more into those of understanding. With an underlying look of pining.

Harry nodded slowly as he perched on the edge of his desk and folded his arms over his chest. “Right, well...you had expressed your need to speak with him. And that does explain why you’d suddenly stopped pressing the matter. Your sisters and I had assumed that you’d decided you just needed more time to overcome all the magic you’d been dosed with and to deal with everything that had happened in the most logical of manners.”

Macy’s eyes met his. It already hurt her to say what she was about tell Harry. “I needed to know if any of it had been real. If there was...any good in him. If he’d ever genuinely felt anything other than animosity towards me. Or if I was just a mean to an end.”

Harry stood. “Macy…” He paused, realizing full and well all that she was and wasn’t saying out loud. He could and never would fault her for having bought into and fallen for the lies and charms that the demon had presented her with. Obviously Hunter had carefully planned and constructed his abduction of Macy. And he could hear in her voice and see in her eyes the sorrow and regret, the struggle, that Macy was feeling and going through. “Macy, whatever you came to feel for Hunter during your time with him...that was real for you, even if it wasn’t for him. And I don’t expect you to be over those feelings anytime soon. I am also aware that whatever you felt for me before then and that you may still feel are completely separate from that. But that doesn’t make it any less complicated for you. I am and will be here for you Macy, in whatever capacity you need me to be.”

The Whitelighter had had his own time over the past few days to not only observe Macy’s behavior but to try to come to his own terms about what must have occurred between her and Hunter in the months that she’d been under the demon’s spell, especially if she was now pregnant with Hunter’s child. None of it lessened his love and desire for the eldest Charmed One. And he’d felt it when they’d held hands in the attic, he’d seen it in her eyes then, that she still cared for him in a way that was more than familial or platonic. He’d always love her and be in love with her, even if she never reciprocated. That’s what it meant to truly love someone, to not need their love in return, but to offer yours up unconditionally. And for Macy, there was little that Harry would not do.

Macy gave him a grateful smile before looking down and sighing before looking back at him. “I don’t mean to put all of this on you, Harry. I just...I couldn’t tell either Mel or Maggie first and telling them together…. I know that they both want what’s best for me best on what they each think is best for me but you...Harry, I know that you want what’s best for me for me. I knew, and I know that you’ll support me whatever I decide when it comes to whether or not I have this baby. And whether or not I want to allow Hunter to be set free and allow him to be a part of his child’s life, if I do go on with my pregnancy.”

“You’re right. Whatever you decide, Macy, I will support you. As I’m sure you know, I do not trust Hunter to not harm you or your sisters after the baby is born. But I know what you have gone through growing up without your mother in your life and I can understand why you want differently for your child to grow up without a parent. I do not doubt, Macy, that you will proceed forth with your pregnancy. You wouldn’t have come to me with all this unless otherwise.” He gave her a small smile.

This was one of the many reasons that she loved him. Why she hadn’t been able but to fall in love with him.

Macy nodded, tears threatening to well in her eyes. “I’m not one hundred percent sure yet but I think...I think I will. Especially if I have you in my corner, Harry.”

“I always will be, Macy.”


End file.
